


Dragon's Heart

by NextTrickAnvils



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Ashe Week 2020, F/M, Petra is a dragon and Ashe is a knight, Some quick references/appearances by other characters but it isn't enough to tag them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:08:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23061475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NextTrickAnvils/pseuds/NextTrickAnvils
Summary: ...It was Ashe's duty as a knight. Slay the dragon and save the land.But none of the stories ever had the dragon turn into a person. None of the stories ever had the dragon take the knight back to their lair to heal them. None of the stories ever had the dragon try to talk to the knight. None of the stories had the dragon introduce herself and give her name.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Petra Macneary
Comments: 4
Kudos: 57





	Dragon's Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 7 of Ashe Week 2020 on Twitter, prompt chosen was AU.
> 
> This was inspired by a prompt I got from an OTP Prompt generator: "Petra is a dragon (or other monster) and Ashe as a knight who has to slay them, but they end up falling in love with them instead."

For as long as Ashe could remember, he dreamed of being like the Knights in his stories.

To serve his king, protect his people, travel to far-off lands, rescue damsels in distress, and slay dragons!

Though Ashe had to admit… he did not expect to be tasked with that last one so soon after he was knighted.

But then again even before he started his training, Ashe was well aware of the dragon that made its home in the mountains near Lake Teutates. How it had been terrorizing nearby villages, burning fields and stealing livestock.

The stories of families panicking and losing their livelihoods frightened Ashe but to be honest, what frightened him the most was the possibility of the dragon moving on to other parts of the country… particularly the Gaspard region.

His home was not too far from where the dragon made its lair and while Lonato and Christophe could certainly hold their own in a battle, Elowen and Linden were much too young to fight.

So when King Dimitri asked the knights of his court to pursue and slay the great dragon and bring back its heart; despite his fears, Ashe gladly accepted his King’s orders and joined the rest of House Blaiddyd’s knights in marching across the country.

As the journey went on, Ashe got to know some of the others among the King’s elite knights. Glenn was a bit rough around the edges but he was every ounce a true knight. Glenn’s fiancé, Ingrid also took her duties very seriously but she showed a caring nature to the rest of the group.

Before long, the group of Knights reached the mountains and that was when the true struggle began. While there was enough of a trail for the knights to follow, they had to be careful with every step. As they climbed higher and higher, the trail became more and more treacherous…

Then it began to rain.

“It’s too dangerous! We need to turn back!”

“It’ll be just as dangerous going down!”

“Maybe we can find shelter!”

Ashe could barely hear the shouts of the other knights as the wind and rain whipped around them. 

Then suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the side of the mountain, causing debris to fall.

Ashe could hear Glenn shouting for the other knights to fall back.

Glenn stood as he tried to direct the others out of the way and then Ashe saw a set of falling rocks that were about to land where Glenn was.

“Glenn, look out!”

Without thinking, Ashe pushed the older knight out of the way and attempted to dodge the rocks himself… until one about the size of a person’s palm struck him in the head.

The pain was searing, Ashe felt dizzy; he couldn’t think and he ended up taking one wrong step.

He could hear the other knights shouting his name as he fell. He thought of Lonato, Christophe, Linden, and Elowen and hoped that the Goddess would care for them in his stead.

Ashe wasn’t sure just how far he had fallen, just that he was still on the mountain and he could feel some of his bones breaking. 

The last thing he could hear was the sound of distant roaring and wings flapping before falling unconscious.

* * *

“Are you awakening? How do you feel?”

Ashe groaned in pain. His head, his chest, and back; it all hurt. 

With some difficulty he opened his eyes and saw a woman with tan skin, brown eyes, and hair the color of plums.

She was beautiful.

Was she a servant of the Goddess, coming to take him to her side?

Ashe tried to sit up but fell back down when his sore body protested.The woman placed a hand very gently on his chest.

“Please be keeping still. Even with the medicine, you are not having full recovery.”

Medicine? Recovery? He… he survived? Did this woman save him?

Then she stood up, with what little strength he had, Ashe took her hand.

“Wait… wh-where are we? Where are you going? What’s your name?”

The woman smiles, “We are in my home. I am going hunting for food for us to eat. And my name is Petra.”

* * *

Whatever medicine Petra had given Ashe, it seemed to work pretty quickly.

Ashe was still very sore but at least he didn’t feel like he was dying. Which gave him the chance to look around where he had been taken.

The first thing he noticed was that he was inside a large cave and the bandages wrapped around his head and body were torn scraps from his clothes. Then he noticed how his “bed” was a big pile of straw, he supposes he was too focused on the pain that he didn’t notice how it didn’t feel like a regular bed.

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

There were more and much bigger piles of straw all over, not a cot or mattress in sight. Besides a small spot for fires, Ashe couldn’t find any other amenities.

Did Petra really live here? Or was she trapped?

Suddenly he heard the sound of roaring and flapping wings… the same sounds he heard when he fell unconscious.. And it finally came to him.

He and Petra were prisoners of the dragon…

With no choice, Ashe quickly found a hiding spot as the dragon came inside of the cave. Where was Petra? Did the dragon decide to…?

His thoughts were interrupted as he saw the dragon drop a pair of dead boars onto the cave floor. It then looked over to where Ashe had been resting and noticed that he was gone. Ashe couldn’t help but notice a look in the dragon’s eyes… almost like… worry.

...Then again it could just be upset over losing a new meal… or a slave. Oh how Ashe wished he had his bow. How would the knights in the old stories handle this?

He then recalled a story about a knight who lost his sword during a battle with a great beast. He managed to weaken it by throwing stones at the creature’s eyes to blind it. It was risky but it was better than the alternative.

Ashe looked from his hiding spot and found a stone about the size of his fist. This would do. Now how he had to find a good position to use his makeshift weapon.

But before he could think of a plan, the dragon finally found him. Ashe panicked, he had to throw the rock now before…

A bright light shone throughout the cave, forcing Ashe to cover his eyes with his arm. When the light began to die out, Ashe lowered his arm, and dropped the rock in surprise.

Standing before him was not the fearsome dragon but the woman who saved his life.

“Ah there you are, human. You were giving me worry when I saw you gone from the small nest. Now please come, I have brought food for us to be cooking.”

It was then that Ashe realized: Petra was not a prisoner of the dragon, she  **was** the dragon and Ashe himself was not a prisoner either, he was a guest.

* * *

The next few days were… awkward to say the least.

The dragon took care of Ashe, giving him medicine made of herbs that grew around the mountains and hunting for food for both of them.

But when she tried to speak to him was when everything felt off.

What were they supposed to talk about anyway? How she had been terrorizing Faergus’ villages for months? How Ashe and his companions had to come to the mountain to kill her?

“...Human, do you have hatred for me?” The dragon asked, one day as they two ate around the fire

“H-huh?”

“You have barely said anything since I was bringing you here. Do you have hatred for me?”

To be honest… part of Ashe wanted to say “yes.” It wasn’t personal, it’s just… it was his duty as a knight. Slay the dragon and save the land.

But none of the stories ever had the dragon turn into a person. None of the stories ever had the dragon take the knight back to their lair to heal them. None of the stories ever had the dragon try to talk to the knight. None of the stories had the dragon introduce herself and give her name.

“...I don’t know. You’re… not what I expected.”

“What expectings did you have?”

“I-I guess I was expecting something more like the stories I read when I was young. A fire-breathing monster that only cared for itself.”

After hearing his answer, she almost looked… disappointed.

“I see...”

An awkward silence hung over the two as they sat around the fire.

Eventually the dragon sighed and stood up.

“I will be returning, human. I only need to be finding more herbs for your medicine.”

“Wait Petra! It’s Ashe.”

“Huh?” She asked as she turned to look him, surprised that he had used her name

“My name. You told me yours when we first met and I never gave you mine. So, my name is Ashe…”

He couldn’t explain it but by finally giving his name to Petra, Ashe could feel that something had changed between them.

* * *

Ashe shivered in his bed of straw. He hadn’t felt this cold since before Lonato took him and his siblings in.

The last few nights had been chilly as well but tonight…

He sat up and looked over at Petra, in her true draconic form. A thought popped in his head and he began to walk towards her.

“Petra? Are you awake?”

A puff of warm air was the only response he got. Ashe walked closer and closer until he could place a hand on her scaled body.

He half expected the scales to feel as cold as the night mountain air but instead there was a soothing warmth to them. Maybe it wasn’t that surprising as Ashe thought about it more.

But for the moment, all he could concentrate on was Petra’s warmth and just how tired he was. He slowly began to huddle around her body and it wasn’t long before he fell asleep.

The next morning, Ashe woke up with Petra’s tail surrounding him, as if to protect him.

* * *

Ashe stared at the makeshift spear in Petra’s hands, he had seen her working on it but he wasn’t sure what she needed for.

“I would like you to be going hunting with me. Would that be alright, Ashe?”

At first Ashe was hesitant to say yes. He didn’t feel that he was fully recovered and he didn’t have much experience handling a spear, preferring the feel of a bow and arrow in his hands. But at the same time he admits to himself that he was becoming a little tired of seeing nothing but the cave day in and day out.

“I wouldn’t mind but… I don’t know how much good I’d be out there with you. I mean… with my injuries… and I don’t really know how to handle a spear. I think I’d just slow you down.”

“Then I will be teaching you.”

“Huh?”

“I have done most hunting in my true form but sometimes I also do hunting as a human. So I shall be your teacher with the spear. It may also be easening your burden from the injuries if I help.”

“O-oh… I suppose… that will work.”

Petra smiled as she walked over to the cave mouth and let herself be enveloped by a shining light, transforming into her true great form. She straightened her tail, indicating to Ashe where he needed to climb up.

Despite a little trouble and some wincing, Ashe made it onto Petra’s back. While he trusted Petra to be careful, he still couldn’t help but be a little nervous. He couldn’t help but wonder if this was how the first wyvern riders felt… even if Petra was a lot bigger than a wyvern.

Then she moved closer and closer to the edge, she looked back at Ashe and he nodded, telling her that he was ready.

Her wings began to move, her legs slowly left the ground and before long Petra was soaring over Faergus.

While Ashe was certainly frightened, all it would take was one fall and he wasn’t sure if Petra could save him this time, he started to laugh.

Seeing the trees and plains and mountains of his country from this point of view? It was breathtaking.

“PETRA! THIS IS AMAZING…! YOU’RE AMAZING!”

Soon enough, the two landed just outside a forest. As soon as Ashe climbed off of Petra, she had transformed back into her human form.

“Shall we begin the hunting?”

Ashe nodded and followed Petra into the woods.

As they walked deeper and deeper, Ashe decided to ask Petra something he had been curious about.

“Petra…?”

“Shhh.”

“Oh sorry.” Ashe apologized in a quieter tone

“Is something worrying you, Ashe?” Petra asked, also in a whisper

“Oh no, no. I was just curious about… well… about the way you… talk?”

Petra just stared at him and immediately Ashe attempted to apologize.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to insult you, I just wanted… I mean...”

“I do not have offense.I was learning the language of Fodlan in my land of home. We were needing of it for diplomacy. I can read and understand the language of Fodlan but to speak it… gives me difficulty.”

“I can only imagine how tough it must be to learn a new language. Maybe... if you’d like… maybe I could help you a little bit. Teach you more about Fodlan common like you’re teaching me to use the spear.”

Petra smiled, “That is much kind of you. I would like… wait...”

Something seemed to have caught her attention, she sniffed the air and turned to the East.

“There is prey there. We must be silence.”

The two quietly made their way past the trees and hid behind a massive moss covered rock. From their hiding spot, they saw a pair of pheasants.

Ashe then felt Petra stand behind and move his hands and body into the right position along with her whispers in his ear.

“You are being too stiff, you must ready to move at the notice of a moment.”

Ashe did his best to follow Petra’s instructions and when she felt he was ready, she let go.

“Do not be making extra noise and take your chance.”

He took a deep breath and started to sneak towards the pheasants. As soon as he closed in on one, he raised the spear and struck the bird in the neck. The other pheasant attempted to run but Petra quickly pounced on it and ended its life.

Ashe pulled the spear out of the pheasant and picked up the body, he turned to Petra and smiled.

“I… I did it, Petra! I did it!”

Petra smiled, “Yes, you listened well and have done a wonderful job.”

At her praise, Ashe could feel his cheeks growing hot and red and his heart beating faster.

* * *

More time passed and Ashe wasn’t sure how long it had been. Long enough for him to finally heal completely at the very least.

He’d become fond of Petra, soaring the skies and hunting with her and helping her learn the Fodlan tongue.

One day, over a meal, Petra asked Ashe, “Is there a Fodlan word for the pain in your heart over missing your home?”

“That… that sounds like homesickness.”

Now that he thinks about it, Petra hadn’t told why she came to Faergus. There were hints but not enough for the full picture.

“...Do you want to talk about your home?”

There was a pause and then Petra sighed.

“My home is… was the land of Brigid.”

Brigid… why does that name sound familiar?

“Was?”

“...Men and women in red took Brigid for themselves. My people are now in servitude to the red ones. I escaped thanks to the helping of my grandfather.”

Men and women in red… and suddenly Ashe realizes where he’s heard of Brigid before.

An archipelago near the Adrestian Empire that was now a vassal state.

“Petra, I’m sorry.”

“There is no need for apologizing. You did not invade my home.”

“Yes but...”

“I love Brigid and one day I will be returning to save it. But for now, I consider this land my home… Even if I am not welcomed. I have understanding that to your people, I am a monster. Even you admit that was how you were seeing me. And I am knowing that you came here to kill me.”

Ashe looked away, unable to deny what Petra said.

“...Everyone in Faergus had heard about the fearsome dragon terrorizing the countryside. Stealing livestock from farmers and setting fire to the fields.”

“I see. So that is how your people are seeing me? I did not realize how much hurt I truly caused. I am filled with great regret.”

The two were quiet and then Ashe looked Petra in the eyes and asked her, “If you knew I was here to kill you… then why did you save me?”

“Because I am not having the cruelty to leave someone to their end… and… I must be confessing… I was lonely.”

Ashe stared at Petra as she blushed and looked away. Then without saying a word, Ashe sat down beside her and took her hands.

“I...I can understand… When I was young, I lost my parents to illness. All I had was my little brother and sister. But it was still very lonely for all three of us. We had to steal to survive, we lived on the streets, and people just either ignored us or gave us dirty looks. It wasn’t until a few years ago that we found a new home and a kind family to take us in...”

He takes a deep breath before continuing.

“I wonder how they’re doing now? Th-they probably think I died out here. Lonato and Christophe are probably doing everything they can to comfort Elowen and Linden… How are Ingrid and Glenn and the rest of the knights handling this? I...”

“Ashe… are you also having the homesickness?”

As soon as Petra asked him that, Ashe realized that he had begun to cry. She pulled him into an embrace as he sobbed into her shoulders. Despite her being in her human form, Petra still radiated a comforting warmth.

* * *

Ashe felt a hand shaking him awake. He groggily sat up and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes. Bit by bit, the events of last night came back to him.

Petra talking about Brigid, admitting that she saved him partially because she was lonely, him telling her about his siblings and Lonato, crying into her shoulder. He must have tired himself out and fell asleep in her arms.

“Ashe...”

Speaking of Petra.

Ashe turned to her and immediately noticed the sad expression on her face.

“Petra? Is something wrong?”

She shook her head, “No. It is just… I believe… it is time for you to be returning home.”

“Home?”

“You are missing your family, your people. Just as I am missing mine. But you can go home. I will not be keeping you away anymore. The sun has not yet arise… er… risen, I can fly you to your lands and you will be seeing your family again.”

It… it sounded wonderful to Ashe… so what was this awful feeling in his chest?

“Wait… what about you?”

“I will be returning to the mountain and living my life as before.”

The two walked toward the cave mouth but before Petra could transform, Ashe gripped her wrist.

“Petra...”

He remembers that feeling of loneliness. That feeling of everyone turning their backs on you. Being seen as a nuisance or a danger.

He was not going to let her go back to that.

“Come with me!”

“What!?”

“Come with me! You can just stay in your human form. Our manor is big enough for another person! My family would love you and welcome you with open arms!”

“...I cannot. I could be staying in this form but I would be missing the feelings of spreading my wings, having the wind against my scales, seeing the land from over the clouds.”

“Then… then I’ll talk to the King! Tell him the truth that you’re not some wicked monster! Maybe he could even help your people!”

“Ashe. Why are you so insisting on my staying with you?”

“Because I…!”

_ Because I don’t want you to be lonely anymore… _

_ Because I’ve become fond of you... _

_ Because… Because I love you… _

“...I know we’ve only known each other for a short time but I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”

Petra’s eyes widened, “You are saying… you see me as a mate of the soul?”

Ashe blushed and nodded. Petra then smiled and cradled his face with her hands. He could feel his heart ready to burst from his chest.

“Then… I will accept your offer. You will have my deep gratitude and all of my heart. For now and forever.”

Ashe chuckled and Petra looked at him with confusion.

“I’m sorry, it’s just… when the King told me and the rest of the knights to find you, he also told us to bring back your heart. I guess I managed to succeed in my mission after all. But… I promise, I will do everything I can to help you and stay by your side through the good times and bad. And… I’ll make sure you won’t be lonely again.”

“...Thank you.”

With that, Petra stepped back and began to transform. Once she had finished, she had straightened her tail and Ashe began to climb up onto her back.

“We should go to the Gaspard region first. I want my family to know I’m alright. It’s South East from here and once you see a large statue, we’ll have arrived.”

Petra nodded; once Ashe assured her that he was tightly holding onto her, she then soared into the sky, and left behind the cave and the mountain she called home for the last few months.

Ashe wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. But whatever does happen, he’ll face it like a true knight and with Petra by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> So... I think this is actually the longest single chapter fic I've written. I hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> You can also find me on Tumblr @ https://nexttrickanvils.tumblr.com/ and Twitter @ https://twitter.com/NextTrickAnvils


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